Several friends and relatives forwarded me the email Obama is a Narcissist purportedly written by Sam Vaknin, “a world authority on narcissism.” It goes on to say, “He (Vaknin) understands the inner mind of a narcissist like no other person. When he talks about narcissism, everyone listens.” Whoa, let’s take a deep breath.

What the email fails to mention is that Sam Vaknin was diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) in 1984. And that title of Dr. before his name? Shmuel (Sam) Vaknin’s resume reports that he completed nine semesters at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. His doctorate is not in psychology, but philosophy, and was received from Pacific Western University, an unaccredited on-line diploma mill based in California. (Operators are standing by, if you too would like add Dr. to your name) Vaknin, an Israeli citizen, was incarcerated in Israel for white collar fraud and currently resides in Macedonia.

Although the Obama is a Narcissist email references some of Vaknin’s writing and includes a header suggesting he is the author, the article was actually published Sept. 8, 2008 by Ali Sina on the FaithFreedom.org (FFI) site as Understanding Obama: The Making of a Fuehrer. How do I know this? I credit Snopes.com. Since 1981, Snopes founders Barbara and David Mikkelson have made it their job to investigate information flying around out there on the internet and provide a much needed reality check.

FFI identifies itself as “a grassroots worldwide movement of ex-Muslims and all those who are concerned about the rise of the Islamic threat.” Its publisher, an Iranian who lives in Canada, uses the pseudonym “Ali Sina.”

If you’ve received the above email (there are numerous versions flying through cyberspace), you know it quickly goes off the deep end. Obama is likened to Jim Jones, the charismatic cult leader of the the People’s Temple who led over 900 of his followers to commit mass suicide. The email says they did so “cheerfully.” Sina’s ugly diatribe refers to Obama’s supporters as “worshippers” and wastes no time in comparing Obama to Stalin and Hitler. Sina has said on the website that he hopes Obama will be executed by electrocution – he subscribes to the conspiracy about Barack Obama’s birth. Wingnuts unite!

My outrage about the above circulating email is two-fold. First, it’s a lie and a blatant misrepresentation of the facts. I only worked briefly as a journalist, but the journalistic mantra is “a reliable source.”

Secondly, as someone who’s written quite a bit on Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), I know those with NPD are pathological liars. So to my mind that negates Vaknin’s observations made from half-way around the world. Vaknin has provided incredible insights into his own narcissism for which I’m grateful. It’s important to note that those with NPD crave attention, but will settle for notoriety. The email circulating provides this to Vaknin in abundance.

I’m most disappointed with how quick people are to use and abuse the term “narcissist.” I realize many don’t know any better. That’s why I write what I do. For the record. narcissism runs on a continuum from healthy narcissism (Healthy Ego) to Destructive Narcissistic Patterns (Me is getting in the way of Us) to Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or as Vaknin refers to his NPD, Malignant Narcissism.

I can’t imagine how any politician or leader could rise to power without a healthy/hefty dose of narcissistic traits. Think alpha male. But this doesn’t mean they have NPD. One tell-tale sign of those with NPD is they’re unable to maintain a healthy emotional relationship with significant others. Someone better tell Michelle and the girls.

I highly recommend that when an email is forwarded to you, you run it by Snopes.com. I recently was forwarded Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins University. When it started talking about how ingesting dairy products creates mucus and how some forms of cancer thrive in mucus, it got me to wondering. I went to Snopes and sure enough they’d already done the research. John Hopkins issued a rebuttal stating that the circulating email is a total fabrication.

If you have trouble remembering the name Snopes, you can do like I do. It rhymes with Scopes, as in the Scopes Monkey Trial. There’s a cure for ignorance – it’s called education.

I saw that article posted on numerous sites and blogs, but never bothered reading it. (Not that I haven’t read my fair share of Vaknin material…maybe everyone has a saturation point, though???)

Good job debunking another specious article circulating the web!

Hugs,
CZBZ

Thanks. This means all the more coming from someone who’s worked so hard to provide accurate information on Narcissistic Personality Disorder. SWS (Saturated With Sam) -That could be a new disorder itself! LOL Keep up the good work! Jan

J – “Supposedly” is the key word. According to Snopes, some of the comments were made my Sam Vaknin. Whether he made the comments or not, I find it most troubling (or insightful) that Vaknin has made no effort to set the record straight. Jan

Sam Vaknin = NPD. It is very difficult to NOT read anything on the net about this topic that’s written by him… but please realise that you feed his narcissism if you buy into the crap he writes. Fortunately I’ve come to know his style of writing now, so when I recognise it I immediately click the X in the upper right corner of my screen.🙂

How sad; he has elaborated on so many primitive psychological defence-mechanisms (like projection, splitting, projective identification etc. etc.) but he still is unable to recognise his own.

Futile…

Liselotte -Vaknin was interviewed on a BBC show that I ran across on YouTube. It was rather eerie seeing the head vampire talking. He became so annoyed by background noise at one point you could what a pompous ass he was/is. He also came across as an incredibly pathetic man, as his emotions are so stunted. Just seeing the interview made you realize it is “futile,” as you say. Jan

Thank you for exposing Vaknin, if you have not watch the free documentary on line (just google) “I, Psychopath” you should. If you have any doubts that Vaknin is a fraud this documentary of him will prove he is a psychopath and narcissist. After watching the documentary I will never read or watch anything that Vaknin puts out because it is all lies, manipulation and mind control. Watch how the film maker and Vaknin wife are abused and he attempts to brainwash the film maker just like he has done to his wife.

J,
I’ve watched several interviews with Vaknin online. In my opinion, his observations about his OWN narcissism are eerily accurate. He’s become an authority on…himself! Of course, narcissists are masters of projection, that is, assigning their own faults to others. So why not aim your site on Obama to throw the spotlight back on yourself? Vaknin’s latest wife admitted that she’d grown up with a narcissistic father, so she’s used to (comfortable?) with the abuse. What a sad life indeed. Jan